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Volvo’s electric excavator unveiled

Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) unveiled its latest concept machine – known as the EX2 – to industry specialists, policymakers, the media and academics at the Volvo Group Innovation Summit on Tuesday May 16th.

The 100% electric compact excavator prototype delivers zero emissions, 10 times higher efficiency, 10 times lower noise levels and reduced total cost of ownership compared to its conventional counterparts. It is believed to be the world’s first fully electric compact excavator prototype.

The regular combustion engine has been replaced with two lithium ion batteries which store enough electric energy to operate the machine for eight hours in an intense application, such as digging compact ground. The hydraulic architecture has been replaced with electric architecture.

Removing these features as well as reducing the cooling needs means significantly lower noise levels. There are no plans to industrialise the product at this stage.